6. NGOs and Sustainability Education
Unlike many other subjects, NGOs are heavily involved in sustainability education at schools. In the survey, we asked participants whether they relied on some external programmes while engaging with SE. Several organisations stand out as the most common collaborators or support providers: WWF, UNESCO, UNICEF, and Eco-Schools (Green Flag). Out of 600 participants who responded to this question in our survey (see Chapter 7), only 131 said they did not rely on any external programme.
6.1 Influence of NGOs in the Field of Sustainability Education
In few fields of education is the presence of NGOs as evident and widespread as in sustainability and environmental education. Already in the 1970s, the nature education movement – and the later environmental education movement – emphasised the role of education in the protection of nature. These movements are the roots of sustainability education (Wheeler et al., 2015). The world’s largest environmental organisation, the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN) – now called the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – was established in 1948, and its Commission on Education – later the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) – was funded one year later. IUCN has member organisations in all the Nordic countries.
Also, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) founded 1961 has, for years, been interested in education. WWF has offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The main drivers behind the report Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living, published in 1991, was a collaboration project between IUCN, WWF, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Already in 1980, the same organisations published the predecessor The World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. This last-mentioned conservation strategy especially emphasises the role of education.
NGOs such as Eco-Schools or WWF are direct participants in schools from kindergarten to upper secondary schools and influence both the way schools interpret the local curricula as well as how they produce teaching materials, assisting schools at changing their functioning and educating teachers. Eco-Schools was initiated in 1992 as a response to the needs identified at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro (https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/rio1992). This conference was held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the first Human Environment Conference, which had been held in Stockholm in 1972. The conference brought together representatives from 179 countries, not only government representatives but also members from the third sector who held a Global Forum, bringing together an unprecedented number of NGO representatives who presented their own vision of the world’s future in relation to the environment and socio-economic development. The Eco-Schools program was first launched in 1994 in Denmark, Germany, Greece, and the United Kingdom with the support of the European Commission. Thirty years later, the Eco-Schools program is present in over seventy countries across the globe.
6.2 International NGOs
Many of the NGOs which provide support for SE in schools, or even offer schools holistic programmes, are international – working across borders not only in the Nordic countries but widely in Europe and globally. Some of those programmes are UN-affiliated while others are grassroots programmes.
6.2.1 Eco-Schools
The Eco-Schools (Green Flag Schools) have an extensive presence within the educational systems in the Nordic countries. In Finland, there are more than 350 elementary schools that have a formal relationship with Eco-Schools program, making it the country’s largest SD program and providing an international environmental label for kindergartens, schools, educational institutions, and leisure operators. The presence of Eco-Schools in Iceland is also extensive, with over half of all elementary schools participating. In Norway, more than 1,000 kindergartens and elementary schools in more than 100 municipalities are members of the Eco-Schools network.
Sweden follows the same pattern; nearly 1,000 preschools and almost 300 schools have received the quality label Green Flag.
The program is based on a whole school approach and offers the participating institution a wide selection of support material while also providing a step-by-step development plan to make the school more sustainable. Schools who complete all the steps are awarded the Green Flag.
6.2.2 World Wildlife Fund Finland
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Finland has its own environmental educators who arrange courses for teachers, produce material (alone or together with others), and support schools to set up environmental groups (https://wwf.fi/en/). The organisation has also had much influence in Sweden, where the Swedish branch (Världsnaturfonden WWF: https://www.wwf.se/utbildning/) offers teaching materials, tools, and methods for working with SD. For example, WWF has developed a teaching guide called Influence the Future – Our City 2030 (https://www.wwf.se/utbildning/wwf-education/influence-the-future-our-city-2030/). The working method is interdisciplinary and aims to give students action skills in the transition to a sustainable society. WWF has also developed an online course for school leaders called Lead a School/Preschool for Sustainable Development – a Whole School Approach (https://kurs.wwf.se/).
6.2.3 UNESCO Global Citizenship Education
UNESCO has run the Associated School Network since 1953, when it was initiated with thirty-three secondary schools from sixteen member states. The network has currently over 12,000 schools worldwide which work together in support of peace, intercultural dialogue and understanding, SD, and quality education. With the launch of the UN SDGs, target 4.7 has received special attention within the network, specifically social, humanistic, and moral purposes of education.
6.3 Local Programmes
In addition to the international programmes working in the field of SE, various local programmes or initiatives have emerged in the last decades. These initiatives take on diverse forms, from government-supported programmes to NGOs and other third-sector projects. Below are examples of such programmes. This is not intended as an exhaustive list but as an indication of what is happening in the Nordic region and a testimony to creativity and the determination of a diverse group of educators and activists.
Forum for uddannelse for bæredygtig udvikling https://rce-denmark.dk/
Grøn skole i Danmark https://groenskole.dk/
Nationalt netværk for naturfagsundervisere https://astra.dk/ubu/
Concito – fokus på bæredygtighed https://concito.dk/
Litteraturliste om bæredygtighed for undervisere
https://www.laereruddannelsesnet.dk/wp-content/uploads/BAeREDYGTIGHED.docx.pdf
https://www.laereruddannelsesnet.dk/wp-content/uploads/BAeREDYGTIGHED.docx.pdf
Suomen Luonnonsuojeluliitto, Suomen Luontoiiitto, and Natur och Miljö
NGOs offering a lot of educational activities and material
Lyke (nature and environmental schools) https://www.luontokoulut.fi/?lang=en
Okka Foundation https://koulujaymparisto.fi/in-english/
Health-promoting schools https://island.is/heilsueflandi-grunnskoli
Naturskoleföreningen (The Nature School Association in Sweden) https://www.naturskola.se/
Naturskyddsföreningen (The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation) Skola startsida - Naturskyddsföreningen